Planning a Family Trip to Europe

After more months of spreadsheets, browser tabs, and points-transfer math than I'd care to admit, our family Europe trip is locked in. Two weeks across five cities — Disneyland Paris → Paris → Europa-Park → London → Dublin — anchored by a hometown departure from Pittsburgh and a direct flight back from Dublin. This post is part travelogue preview, part love letter to credit card points, and part confession from a lifelong coaster dork who is finally — finally — getting to Europa-Park.

The Shape of It

We're a family of three. Two weeks. June 30 → July 13. The route was built backwards from two non-negotiables on the calendar: Iron Maiden's EDDFEST at Knebworth on July 11, and a window of summer dates that worked for everyone. Everything else slotted in around those.

Major stops:

- Disneyland Paris — three nights at Sequoia Lodge with a four-day park package

- Central Paris — one night in the 10th arrondissement

- Europa-Park (Germany) — three nights at Hotel Krønasår with a two-day park ticket

- London — three nights at the Andaz Liverpool Street, plus the festival and a West End show

- Dublin — one night at The College Green Hotel before flying home

The Points Game

This is the part I'm most proud of, and the part where I'll keep things deliberately vague on actual cost. The short version: a meaningful chunk of this trip was funded by credit card points and transfer partners, and the cash portion came in well below what a "book it all on a travel site" version would have looked like.

Here's how the points stacked up:

- PIT → Paris CDG booked with Flying Blue miles transferred from American Express Membership Rewards, in Economy Comfort on Delta and Air France.

- London → Dublin booked with British Airways Avios in Euro Traveller.

- Dublin → Pittsburgh direct on Aer Lingus, also booked with Avios transferred from Amex.

- Hyatt Place Paris CDG (our jet-lag recovery night before Disney) booked on a Points + Cash rate — a Hyatt sweet spot that turns a small number of points into an upgraded suite.

- Andaz London Liverpool Street for three nights, booked entirely on World of Hyatt points by stacking three separate award nights on a Category 6 property.

- The College Green Hotel Dublin (Autograph Collection) booked through Amex Travel's Fine Hotels & Resorts program, which kicked in a property credit that knocks a serious chunk off the rate and includes breakfast.

Three transferable-points programs (Amex Membership Rewards, Hyatt, and Avios) carry most of the load across flights and hotels — that's the win. Burning fixed-value cash on transatlantic flights and city-center hotels was never going to work for a trip this size.

A few notes for anyone running the same playbook:

- Companion Platinum cards do not include lounge access. I have the primary Amex Platinum and Sapphire Preferred; my wife and son have no-fee companion Platinum cards. They get into lounges as my guests, not on their own. Worth knowing before you walk up to a Centurion door.

- Global Entry + TSA PreCheck for all three of us turns the airport days into a non-event. Dublin's US Preclearance is the cherry — we'll clear US immigration before boarding the flight home and arrive in Pittsburgh as domestic passengers.

Where We're Sleeping

The hotels were chosen for fit, not flash — but a couple of them are flashy anyway.

Sequoia Lodge — Disneyland Paris

Disney's American Pacific Northwest–themed hotel, with the proper "lodge" aesthetic of stone, timber, and oversized fireplaces. The package bundles three nights with a four-day park hopper, which gives us a flex day between the two parks (Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios) plus an optional final morning before heading into Paris. Hotel guests get Extra Magic Time — an hour of early entry to the parks before the public — which in July, in queues, is gold.

Hôtel Le Milie Rose — Paris (10th arr.)

A boutique stay on rue des Petites Écuries, a five-minute walk from Gare de l'Est. We picked it specifically because the next morning's TGV to Europa-Park leaves from that station — no RER B trek, no airport back-and-forth. We took two rooms (a Superior Double and a Superior Twin) for the privacy of separate rooms on a one-night stop.

Hotel Krønasår — Europa-Park

This is the one I'm geeking out over the most after the parks themselves. Krønasår is themed as a Nordic/Viking maritime museum hotel — yes, with a working aquarium running through it. It's one of six themed hotels at the Europa-Park resort, and rooms include the two-day park ticket plus early entry. If a hotel can have a vibe, this hotel's vibe is "your dad collected mast figureheads."

Andaz London Liverpool Street

Hyatt's Category 6 property in the City of London, in a Grade II–listed heritage building — the original Great Eastern Hotel from 1884, with seven distinctive bars and restaurants tucked inside. Andaz rooms are individually designed (no two are exactly alike), and the daily non-alcoholic minibar is on the house. Three nights here, all on points. The location is also perfect for the festival — a quick hop on the Elizabeth Line to Farringdon and onto the Thameslink up to Knebworth.

The College Green Hotel Dublin, Autograph Collection

Marriott's Autograph property is literally next door to Trinity College, about a minute from the gates. We have Book of Kells on the docket, plus an evening in Temple Bar within walking distance. It's a one-night victory-lap stop before flying home, and the Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts benefits make it a pretty soft landing.

The Coaster Pilgrimage

I've been a coaster dork for close to thirty years. That's three decades of Cedar Point, Kings Dominion, Carowinds, Holiday World, Busch Gardens, SFMM trips, etc. — and three decades of reading about Europa-Park from afar and never making it.

This year, we're going.

For anyone who isn't deep in the hobby, Europa-Park is consistently ranked the best theme park in the world in industry awards. Not the biggest — the best. It's a family-owned park built around themed villages representing different European countries (Scandinavia, Italy, France, Germany, Greece, and many more), each with its own architecture, food, landscaping, and rides. The detail is preposterous.

The coasters I've been hyped to ride for years:

- Silver Star — the 73-meter Mercedes-Benz–sponsored hyper coaster that was, for years, the tallest coaster in Europe.

- Blue Fire Megacoaster — a multi-launch Mack with inversions, in the Iceland area.

- Wodan Timburcoaster — a GCI wooden coaster widely considered one of the best wooden coasters built in the modern era.

- Voltron Nevera — the newest signature coaster in the lineup, a multi-launch with seven inversions.

Plus everything else — Arthur, Euro Mir, Eurosat, Poseidon — and the simple fact of just walking around Europa-Park, which, from everything I've read, is half the experience. We're hitting the Park Hotel for early entry both days, which should let us bag the heavy hitters before the European summer crowds catch up to us.

If you've been into coasters as long as I have, you understand. If you haven't, just nod politely. I've been waiting on this one.

Iron Maiden EDDFEST — The Festival Day

The other anchor of the trip, and the part my fifteen-year-old son is most hyped for: a full festival day at Knebworth Park on July 11 for Iron Maiden's EDDFEST.

The lineup is stacked:

- The Almighty

- Airbourne

- The Hu

- The Darkness

- Iron Maiden (headliner)

Preston has been listening to Maiden for years now, but he's specifically amped for Airbourne. If you don't know them: they're an Australian hard rock band cut from straight AC/DC cloth — high-energy, sweaty, no irony, full commitment. Joel O'Keeffe doing a guitar solo while balanced on a roadie's shoulders, carrying him through the crowd, is the kind of thing Preston has been watching YouTube clips of for months. Seeing Airbourne and Maiden and The Hu (Mongolian folk metal with throat singing — genuinely one of the most unique live acts touring) on the same day, at Knebworth, with Iron Maiden's full production of pyro and Eddie and the works… for a teenager getting his first festival, it's hard to imagine a better entry point.

We're traveling light from the hotel. Festival kit only, bags stay safe at the Andaz, last train back into Liverpool Street.

Everything Else

Around the two anchors, we've worked in:

- Three Disneyland Paris park days with a flex fourth — Phantom Manor, the Pirates of the Caribbean ride that's widely considered the best Pirates installation in any Disney park, Avengers Assemble: Flight Force (a Paris exclusive), Crush's Coaster, Ratatouille, the lot.

- A full Paris sightseeing day — Louvre, Île de la Cité, Sainte-Chapelle, Notre-Dame exterior, Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, walking the Champs-Élysées.

- A West End show in London — Avenue Q at the Shaftesbury Theatre. Irreverent puppet musical, age-appropriate for our teenager, very on-brand for our family.

- British Museum, Covent Garden, Neal's Yard.

- Trinity College and the Book of Kells in Dublin, Temple Bar in the evening, a final-morning walk past Dublin Castle and Christ Church before flying home.

What I've Learned Planning This

A few things I'd tell my past self (or anyone else looking at a points-funded multi-city Europe trip):

1. Pick the anchors first, then build around them. EDDFEST and the trip dates were the only fixed pegs. Once those were nailed down, the route built itself.

2. Stay near the train station you actually need. Switching our last Paris night from a CDG airport hotel to one five minutes from Gare de l'Est removed an entire stressful morning from the itinerary.

3. Hyatt's Category 6 properties are still one of the best values in travel. The Andaz London on points, three nights running, was the single biggest win of the booking process.

4. Build in a recovery day after the long-haul flight. Our Hyatt Place CDG night exists for one reason — to not face Disney crowds the day after an overnight flight.

T-minus a few weeks. The spreadsheets are stable, the bookings are confirmed, the itinerary is mapped, and the ear protection is bought.

The next time you hear about this here, I'll be writing about how it actually went.